Thursday 25th February 2016 – 353.66 miles.

Very cold last night – nearly cracked and broke out the emergency bivvy bags!

Managed to shake all the ice off the tent before packing it away and we were away by 7am.

What a beautiful sunrise (and moonset too) this morning.

Quite a few people have asked us why we decided to walk so early in the year. There are a couple of reasons and today has been one of those reasons. Such an amazing day – a peaceful walk along the canal just as the sun came up. Mist rising up from the water and frost on the trees and shrubs along the way.

We soon warmed up as we walke along and it wasn’t long before we arrived at Rea Bridge where we met our friend Helene and her partner Paul who took us back to theirs for a very welcome cup of tea and buttered crumpets – thanks Helene and Paul. We walked back to the canal and said our goodbyes – we’ll be seeing them again on Saturday evening.
It wasn’t long before we reached the outskirts of Gloucester – the scenery changed from green fields to houses on one side

and small businesses on the other.

We soon reached Sainsburys where we met up with our daughter Kate for a quick cuppa in the cafe. Did a bit of food shopping too. Lovely to see you Kate XXX
Ten more minutes and we reached Gloucester Docks.

A good place for a visit. There were a number tall ships in the dock being refurbished.

We sat for a while and ate our cheese and pickle baps enjoying the view across the water.

It was a short walk to Gloucester Cathedral where we spent a few quiet moments.

We met Peter, one of the Cathedral guides who was interested in our walk and wished us good luck – thanks Peter. On our way out we met Barry who spontaneously gave us a donation of his loose change – thanks Barry.
We left Gloucester heading for the cycleway to Maisemore. Irving from Quedgeley stopped to wish us luck – thanks Irving. We stopped at the White Hart pub in Maisemore for a cuppa – it was just closing but they kindly let us have two teas to drink outside. As it was a pleasant afternoon we accepted. They also gave us some poppadoms and sauce to snack on. Thanks Dave and Bilnal.

We left the main road and turned right onto Church Road and followed the lane for about a mile – a steady climb up with lovely views over the Severn Valley.

We were walking past Maisemore Apiaries when we met John. We chatted about our walk and we said we were looking for somewhere to camp for the night. John said that we could camp in his field – Dave shook his hand and said Thank you. We got chatting to some of John’s customers who enjoy walking themselves – Peter and Anne and their grandson Charles. They gave us a donation as did John. Thank you.
Mark came by after our tent was up and took a photograph of us to put on the company Facebook page.

We are now relaxing in the tent having just eaten supper cooked by Dave – thanks Dave XXX